Ravinia's 'Annie' Gets Gun, Hits Mark and Doesn't Skip Out Before Sunset

Theater Review

Annie Get Your Gun
Starring Patti LuPone, Patrick Cassidy & George Hearn
Ravinia Festival, Highland Park, IL
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I'd been intending to see Ravinia's semi-staged production of Annie Get Your Gun ever since it was announced, probably sometime in late 2009. I am an avid fan of musical theater and the show's announced star, Patti LuPone, is about as good a practitioner of the art form as any performer active today.

But then, a few semi-funny things happened on the way to mid-August. First, back in March, I saw LuPone in a concert-type performance with Mandy Patinkin. Although her singing was sublime as always, I didn't find the show to be as good as it should have been. Then, at some point in the summer, it was announced that Brian Stokes Mitchell, a Tony-winning Broadway star slated to appear with LuPone in Annie Get Your Gun, would not be doing so; Patrick Cassidy, the lesser-known son of Shirley Jones and/or Jack Cassidy (Shaun is his brother; David his half-brother) was announced as his replacement. Finally, just two weeks ago, I went to see LuPone and other Broadway luminaries perform at Ravinia in a celebration of Stephen Sondheim's 80th birthday. Although what they sang sounded fantastic, the night turned into a fiasco due to the performance lasting only 65 minutes on a night that doubled as a gala dinner for Ravinia benefactors and volunteers. (When an outdoor evening performance ends before it's dark out, you know you're being shortchanged.) 

Although seemingly no fault of LuPone's, the brevity of the concert made me question whether I'd be giving Ravinia any more of my time and money, at least this season for a theatrical-type performance. Although I found Ravinia's public response to less than stellar, they did offer 2-for-1 pavilion tickets to Annie Get Your Gun to all patrons of the Sondheim event. As they eventually extended the offer to everyone (at least those on Ravinia's email list), allowed half-price purchases for odd-number tickets and included lawn seats, I and other family members decided to go on Saturday night.

I sat in the pavilion for just $25 and appreciated the clear sightlines and good acoustics for a discounted price. Although the staging, backed by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, didn't really include much in the way of scenery, the musical was being acted out to a certain extent, so actually seeing it was my preference. 

While LuPone is technically a bit too old to be playing Annie Oakley, it didn't matter and she sounded great while seemingly having lots of fun. I thought Cassidy sounded quite good, too, as Annie's love interest, Frank Butler. Venerable stage stars, George Hearn and Joseph Anthony Foronda, supplemented a fine supporting cast, and at a full 2-1/2 hours, everything about the evening was perfect.

Except the show itself. Although Annie Get Your Gun, composed by the legendary Irving Berlin, was a big success in its original 1946 run, a movie version and multiple revivals, like a number of other pre-1950 "classic musicals," I find it to be relatively flawed.

Yes, it contains wonderful songs like There's No Business Like Show Business, Doin' What Comes Natur'lly and Anything You Can Do, but there are several lesser ones, the book has narrative problems and Old West thinking about Indians and feminism wasn't all that updated by 1946.

I much preferred seeing LuPone in Ravinia's past staging of Sondheim works, like Gypsy and Sunday in the Park With George, but it was still a pleasure hearing her belt out the best of Berlin's classic showtunes. In sum, the evening featured an excellent rendition of a famous & fun musical, though in truth, one that's a bit shy of phenomenal. 

But if nothing else, as it was dark when I left after offering LuPone, et al, hearty applause, at least I got my money's worth.

A Little Too Little Sondheim Music

Theatrical Concert Review

Sondheim: 80
Celebrating the 80th Birthday of Stephen Sondheim
Starring Patti LuPone, George Hearn, Audra McDonald and Michael Cerveris
Ravinia Festival
Saturday, July 31, 2010
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(@@@@@ for the quality of what was performed; @@ for the extreme brevity)

After seeing and enjoying Shrek: The Musical on Thursday and Bon Jovi with Kid Rock on Friday, on Saturday night I went to a performance that promised a selection of songs a bit more sophisticated. Unfortunately, while the quality of what I heard was sublime, my enjoyment was quite constrained by an astonishing lack of quantity. Let's just say that as an opening act, Kid Rock played just as long as four Broadway legends and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra did at Ravinia in paying tribute to the 80th birthday of Stephen Sondheim.

Throughout the last decade, I have come to greatly appreciate the genius of Sondheim, who I consider the best living Broadway composer and lyricist, and probably the best ever. I have seen all of his major musicals at least once, attended three of Ravinia's five concert stagings of his works and even paid just to hear him speak at the Harris Theatre this past March.

So I had Saturday night's performance marked on my calendar for quite awhile. The four stars--Patti LuPone, George Hearn, Audra McDonald and Michael Cerveris--are all outstanding singers and actors, who I have seen & heard performing Sondheim and other shows at Ravinia and elsewhere. Although Ravinia's lawn ticket prices have risen quite a bit over the last few years, my sister and I considered the $25 well worth it (we even inquired about pavilion tickets, but weren't going to pony up $125, especially as we could see a good deal of the show from our spot on the lawn and by standing alongside the pavilion).

On the Ravinia website, it mentioned that Saturday's show was a "Gala Benefit Evening of the Women's Board" and those so inclined could have clicked around to buy benefactor tickets starting at $750 for inclusion in the Gala Dinner, but nowhere did it mention that the concert would be abbreviated. At the show, there were signs in the pavilion saying that there would be no intermission, but I still assumed there would be at least 90 minutes of music.

But not counting a rendition of the National Anthem that opened the evening--something I'd never heard at Ravinia--a total of 17 selections were performed, clocking in at 65 minutes. Appropriately, the Chicago Tribune's theater critic, Chris Jones, took Ravinia to task for the embarrassingly short show, followed-up by coverage of Ravinia's response, which I found to be piss-poor from a PR standpoint. The two pieces on Jones' blog have almost 300 combined comments from readers, including me, most of whom likewise slam Ravinia for not anyone their money's worth (whether one paid $25, $125, $750 or a whole lot more). 

The great shame of this is that what was performed sounded magnificent. From Cerveris doing "Finishing the Hat," (a great song from Sunday in the Park with George) to LuPone shining on Send in the Clowns and Everything's Coming Up Roses, and with wonderful work from McDonald and Hearn as well, I doubt many in the audience were disappointed with the quality of what they heard.

But never mind a second act--in which the selections derived from Ravinia's past Sondheim shows could have been augmented by many of his other phenomenal tunes, such as pieces from West Side Story, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and Into the Woods--there wasn't even an encore.

When I saw the evening's program book titled "A Little Sondheim Music" I had no idea I should take it so literally. Ravinia should be embarrassed for leaving so much good will on the table, even if it's a $50,000 table at their gala dinner. Send in the clowns, indeed.

(In case anyone's wondering, Sondheim himself was not there, even though he has attended past performances and even done pre-show talks.)